Suspended Peel police officer Sheldon Cook was granted bail Monday - just four days after he was sent to prison for several convictions, including stealing fake cocaine from a botched RCMP drug sting. Following Friday's sentencing, his lawyers immediately filed notice his convictions would be appealed. After spending the weekend in custody, the 19-year veteran officer was released Monday pending the outcome of his appeal. Justice Casey Hill sentenced Cook, 43, to five years and eight months. He had no previous police discipline history or criminal record. [continues 170 words]
Suspended Peel Police officer Sheldon Cook was sent to prison for more than five years Friday for several criminal convictions, including stealing fake cocaine from a botched RCMP sting. Sheldon Cook, 43, removed his belt and tie and handed them to a relative before being led away from a Brampton courtroom. Justice Casey Hill sentenced Cook, a 19-year veteran officer, to a prison sentence of five years and eight months. He had no previous police discipline history or criminal record. [continues 358 words]
BRAMPTON - Already facing prison, convicted Peel Police officer Sheldon Cook could also lose his financial interest in his Cambridge home under a forfeiture application filed by federal crowns. David Rowcliffe and Anya Weiler want to seized his stake in his home as proceeds of crime following his drug-related convictions. On June 23, Justice Casey Hill convicted Cook, 42, of unlawfully attempting to possess an illegal substance for the purpose of trafficking, three counts of breach of trust, theft and unlawful possession of stolen property, and possession of marijuana. [continues 318 words]
RCMP Drug Sting Went Awry A Peel police officer has been found guilty of seven criminal charges including some related to the disappearance of fake cocaine that was being used in an RCMP drug sting. Const. Sheldon Cook, 42, remains on bail ahead of a sentencing hearing set for Aug. 5 in Brampton. Cook was found guilty of unlawful attempt to possess an illegal substance for the purpose of trafficking, three counts of breach of trust, theft and unlawful possession of stolen property, and possession of marijuana. [continues 778 words]
But question remains: Was veteran Peel constable set up? From the beginning, the RCMP drug sting known as Project O'Caper was a disaster in the making. The undercover operation hit its first blip shortly after the Mounties arranged for the purchase of 147 bricks of cocaine in Peru and replaced it with white flour. When the fake shipment reached Lima airport, one brick was missing and 11 others had been replaced with concrete powder. The project went completely off the rails when the fake cocaine shipment, now hidden inside 88 boxes of mangoes, arrived at Toronto's Pearson International Airport on Nov. 16, 2005: [continues 1275 words]
More than $2.5 million worth of the illegal drug "Doda" has been seized by Peel police following a series of raids on Greater Toronto locations. Police say Monday's discovery is one of the largest in the GTA since the crackdown of the opiate-based drug began last year. Three different search warrants were executed: one at a Brampton residence, another at a Toronto home and a third at a Mississauga storage facility. [continues 220 words]
A veteran Peel Police officer, accused of stealing fake cocaine from a botched RCMP drug sting, wanted the two officers who knew the truth to come forward to clear his name. Cst. Sheldon Cook said the media labelled him a drug trafficker after his arrest on Nov. 18, 2005 for conspiracy to import cocaine. "They had me on the same level as Pablo Escobar...," Cook told a Brampton court today. "... there wasn't one spec of cocaine found at my house." [continues 1055 words]
A 14-year veteran Peel Police officer, accused of stealing fake cocaine from a botched RCMP drug delivery, today explained why some marijuana was also found in his garage during a search. Const. Sheldon Cook said the pot was found in one of 10 boxes stored in his garage by his brother Darren. The property belonged to his brother's former tenant, who skipped out on his rent from a condo leased by his brother, a real estate agent. "I had absolutely no knowledge there was any marijuana in my garage," Cook, 40, testified today at his Brampton trial. "There was no odour indicating marijuana was there. If I had known, obviously I would never have allowed the boxes to be stored in my garage." [continues 216 words]
A veteran Peel police officer today denied stealing 15 bricks of phony cocaine from a botched RCMP sting operation. Const. Sheldon Cook insisted he was told by his bosses to take the packages home to Cambridge when he discovered them in the trunk of his police cruiser after his shift ended in the early hours of Nov. 17, 2005. He said he intended to drop the packages off at the morality squad's offices later that morning on his way to court. [continues 462 words]
A Peel police constable on trial for drug offences was set up by a superior officer at the scene, a defence lawyer suggested yesterday. Sheldon Cook, 40, was surprised when his shift ended Nov. 17, 2005, to discover a box in his cruiser's trunk with cocaine bricks from a seizure earlier that night in Mississauga, lawyer Pat Ducharme told a Brampton court. Cook has pleaded not guilty to seven criminal charges. He was arrested when 15 bricks from a missing shipment of fake cocaine sent by the RCMP were found at his Cambridge home, two days after 102 bricks turned up in a courier delivery truck on Nov. 16, 2005. [continues 294 words]
Second Appearance At Drug Bust Shocked Officer, Court Told A Peel morality officer was surprised when a detective from another unit suddenly appeared at his Jeep Cherokee about two hours after he thought he had left the scene of what police believed was a major cocaine discovery. Det. Kennedy McTiernan said he was in a morality-assigned Jeep near Peel's Lakeshore Rd. community station when Det. Marty Rykhoff of 12 Division's Criminal Investigation Bureau appeared at about 2 a.m. on Nov. 17, 2005. [continues 288 words]
A Peel police officer accused of stealing 15 bricks of fake cocaine that were supposed to be used in an RCMP sting was never alone with the entire shipment, according to the officer who discovered the haul. But Sheldon Cook was among three officers from Peel's 12 Division Criminal Investigation Bureau unit who unloaded more than 100 packages of suspected cocaine from a courier van to a bureau minivan and later to a police morality bureau van, Peel Const. Robert Bryant testified yesterday. [continues 383 words]
RCMP-Controlled Cargo Of Bogus Drugs From Peru Went Missing From Airport 12 Hours Later, Court Told An RCMP-controlled delivery of 88 boxes containing 146 bricks of fake cocaine arrived at Pearson International Airport from Peru on Nov. 16, 2005. Incredibly, despite being under surveillance, the shipment went missing about 12 hours later, a Brampton court was told yesterday. "We had no idea where it was," RCMP Staff Sgt. Kevin Nicholson testified. Some 15 bricks, including one with a tracking device, were later located at the Cambridge residence of Peel police Const. Sheldon Cook. [continues 386 words]
Nearly 40 people have been arrested and drugs, weapons and cash seized following a three-month probe of an organized drug trafficking ring in York Region, police said. An arrest warrant also has been issued for Harry Hardgrove, 27, of Toronto, whom police said managed to escape custody during the course of his arrest. York Police said today the crime group had been operating in the Town of Georgina, northeast of Toronto. Altogether 152 charges, including possession and trafficking of narcotics as well as possession of stolen property and weapons offences, have been laid against both drug buyers and suppliers under the probe dubbed Project 'HOME'. [continues 55 words]
New criminal charges have been laid against a veteran Peel police officer in connection with alleged possession of drugs and stolen property. Const. Sheldon Cook, 38, has now been charged with nine new offences, including attempting to possess a controlled substance, possession of marijuana and possession of more than 20 allegedly stolen MP3 players as well as several breaches of trust. The 14-year veteran police officer, who is currently suspended with pay, is also being sued along with other Peel police officers for $14.6 million by former Toronto Argonaut linebacker Orlando Bowen, 30, in connection with an alleged wrongful arrest and beating. [continues 217 words]
Allegations that former Toronto Argonaut linebacker Orlando Bowen was beaten by two Peel Region police officers are being probed by the province's Special Investigations Unit. Bowen, who is suing Peel police for $14.6 million, alleges that Peel Constables Sheldon Cook and Grant Gervais not only beat him but planted drugs on him when he was arrested March 26, 2004. Bowen, 30, was charged with assaulting the two officers and possessing a small quantity of crack cocaine. But a Brampton judge acquitted him on Dec. 22 of all charges. [continues 209 words]
4 Men Abducted At Gunpoint, Beaten In Drug-Related Crime Probe Continues In Jan. 16 Shooting Death Of Rajesh Owaan Ten men have now been charged in the drug-related kidnapping of four men who were beaten during their captivity. The accused, who include two of four men who had allegedly kidnapped the last victim, Balkar Singh, 33, from a Brampton street on Jan. 13, now face a total of more than 200 charges. "We're still looking for two more men, but essentially the task force has been shut down," Peel Acting Det. Sgt. Jim Dolan said yesterday. [continues 512 words]
Abductions Stemmed From Missing Drug Shipment, Sources Say Three more men have been charged in connection with the ever-widening investigation into the kidnapping of a Brampton truck driver. As well, two men previously charged in connection with the Jan. 13 abduction of Balkar Singh, 33, including one person who received bail last week, have now been re-arrested and charged with other offences in the case, The Star has learned. Peel Police today also revealed today that three other victims, besides Singh, were kidnapped in connection with this drug-related probe. [continues 434 words]
A small-time Brampton drug dealer died during a life and death struggle with a gunman during a home invasion that turned deadly, Peel crown prosecutor Steve Sherriff told a jury today. "Mark Burrell executed Darwin Mantilla Pozo. . . he forcibly confined him," Sherriff said in his opening address in a Brampton courtroom. "He was a prisoner in his own home and couldn't get out." Burrell, 25, of Mississauga has pleaded not guilty to first degree murder. It's the crown's theory that Burrrell was one of three armed robbers who "burst into the apartment" on Jan. 31, 2003, looking for 3 kilograms of cocaine and $30,000 that was supposed to be stashed away in a safe. [continues 595 words]
15 Kilograms Found in House Constable Linked to Ex-Argo's Case A Peel police officer has been charged with drug trafficking and other related offences involving cocaine with a street value of more than $500,000. Const. Sheldon Cook, 38, was arrested by RCMP officers at his residence on Friday night where it's alleged 15 kilograms of cocaine were found hidden in a storage area. Neither the RCMP nor Peel police would comment on the arrest, but sources said the 14-year veteran police officer had been in charge of guarding the drugs when they disappeared from a Peel police station in Mississauga last Wednesday. [continues 327 words]
